Arizona Off-Season Review

Rebuild? Reload? Retreat? With the off-season winding down, it is time to assess what the Arizona Diamondbacks accomplished during their winter vacation.

GOALS

Despite five straight playoff appearances and leading the league in attendance last season, Arizona remains a mid-market team with a fickle fan base. And, following some financial missteps in the previous off-season, the D-Backs were determined to course-correct this time. GM Schlegel stated, “We had four primary goals entering the off-season: 1) Attain financial flexibility; 2) Upgrade the coaching staff; 3) Upgrade the pitching staff; and 4) Maintain our long-term competitive window. I think we have addressed all four areas quite well so far.”      

ROSTER UPDATES

The Diamondbacks got to work as soon as their trip to the post-season ended, avoiding arbitration with six players on 1-year deals. The writing on the wall being the players who were not immediately offered deals: 2B Juan Morin and IF Ricardo Perez, both entering their final year of eligibility. Also lingering was the status of free agent to-be SP Michael Matuella.  

But before any further contracts were offered, the D-Backs sent future Hall of Famer SP Ryan Copeland and four prospects to the Washington Nationals for AAA reclamation project RP Tome Vega in a no-nonsense salary dump. While this windfall provided considerable financial flexibility, negotiations with Matuella were unsatisfactory and he was allowed to file for FA. Perez also filed.  

Negotiations with Morin were further along, including avoiding a final year of arbitration, but when his agents hinted that he was looking for a 10-year deal, the team quickly pivoted and shipped him to Seattle. In return Arizona received OF Jarred Kelenic and three starting pitchers: Matthew Thompson and Matt Cox, both of whom are expected to compete for a rotation spot this spring, and Austin Kasick, who scouts believe has the highest ceiling of the three but is at least two years away (he was promptly sent out to the developmental league for additional work).  

Fans were stunned, and angry: Was the team rebuilding? Or worse: tearing down? Morin was one of the two centerpieces of the Mark Baker trade in 2016 — also with Seattle. Morin led the league in steals in three of his five years as a pro, and was 4th last season. Only time will tell whether the return was worth it. Kelenic, originally drafted by Arizona in the second round in 2018, is expected to compete for the RF job this spring.  

How would the D-Backs use this sudden financial surplus? First up, the team announced that 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr had signed a 1-year extension to buy out his final year of arbitration in 2026. Then came the big move: extending 3B Jeremy Scott for four years (through his age-33 season), with one year remaining on his current extension. This clears the books for next off season, when the team will have to address Vlad Jr’s future as well as a possible opt-out by Shohei Ohtani and Lance McCullers.  

With questions remaining about the pitching staff, the Diamondbacks turned to free agency. While the big fish were swimming in waters too deep for Arizona’s comfort level, they did bring in two veteran relievers to solidify the bullpen in RHP Krishawn Holley and RHP Raisel Iglesias. Meanwhile under the radar on the international free agent front, the Diamondbacks quietly signed veteran RHP Tomoyuki Sugano to a 1-year deal and OF Randy Arozarena to a minor league deal with a major league option — exactly what the players’ agents had asked for. While both players are a gamble for how quickly they can adapt to the pace of the major league game here in the States, as well as whether they can become impact players at all, if the deals pan out it will be quite a coup. While Arozarena could start the season in AAA, he is expected to get a full opportunity in spring training to win a job.

COACHING STAFF

At the end of last season, it was clear that the D-Backs intended to move on from long-time pitching coach Mickey Callaway. The only question was whether the replacement would be from within the organization or not. While longtime AAA pitching coach Charles Nagy was interviewed for the position, the D-Backs quickly zeroed in on highly-touted minor league pitching coach Dustin McGowan. McGowan comes in with high expectations, with his teams having made the playoffs in six of his seven years of coaching, including three championships.

The D-Backs also had to recover from the sudden retirement of legendary bench coach Alan Trammell, deciding to promote David Newhan from AA Mobile. Newhan has been a hitting coach in the Arizona organization across two levels for the past eight seasons, but brings a teacher’s gift to the bench where the challenge will be to fill Trammell’s considerable cleats in getting players acclimated defensively to the big leagues.

OFF-SEASON ASSESSMENT

While the marketers are calling this a ‘reload’ instead of a ‘rebuild’, most fans are content to wait and see. The Diamondbacks appear to have achieved their limited off-season goals. Now, with spring training just around the corner, the question will become: Did Arizona do enough to reach the playoffs once again and hopefully take a deeper run?

Leave a Reply